Let them Eat Cake
by Lithrael
Summary: Set during Digimon Adventure 02. Another clash of attitudes for the Red and the Blue: Mummymon feels like a party, and Arukenimon doesn't. Dedicated to Lord Puppetmon, for her birthday!


Arukenimon sat on the concrete steps outside Oikawa's apartment, trying not to think about the fact that it was Mummymon's favorite sulking and contemplating spot, that he had spent countless hours sitting on these same steps where she sat now. She wanted to sit in an angry scrunch, but pride demanded that she stretch her long legs, looking aloof and relaxed.

She heard Oikawa's door clunk and scrape open, heard the crunch of heavy shoes crushing grit into the concrete, and she finally did scrunch her shoulders. _Mummymon._

Mummymon, wearing most of a cake on his head (and a considerable amount of frosting on his coat), walked ponderously down to where Arukenimon sat. She ignored him. He stood there not quite looking at her for a long moment, then plopped himself down to sit by her side. A little cake fell off him and landed on the concrete. The crows in the bushes looked at it covetously, their black eyes gleaming in the shadows.

When Mummymon finally spoke, Arukenimon let her head droop in annoyance. He couldn't leave her alone for five damn minutes, could he?

"I'm really very sorry, Arukenimon, my dear," Mummymon told her unassumingly. "I meant for it to be fun."

"Fun?" she snapped back, finally raising her gaze and her hackles. "I don't care about _fun_, Mummymon. I care about beating those kids."

"We'll beat them, darling, don't worry," he said confidently. "You know you just have to-"

"I _know_ I'll beat them," she informed him, and on a roll, she rounded on him furiously. "And it's not my birthday - I don't _have_ a birthday - so leave me _alone_!"

Mummymon just grinned, ignoring her tone entirely. "It's the day you came to the Real world! Isn't that good enough for cake?"

"I have a whole closet full of this dress and it's size six. I'm not eating any cake. Leave me alone."

"Well, now you're just being silly," Mummymon protested, whining a little.

"Who's silly? You're the one chasing people around with CAKE!"

"But I love cake," Mummymon protested. "It's so fluffy and delicious..." His eye rolled up and closed in happy ponderance of cake, and his tongue snuck out to lick some cake off his face.

"_Fluffy_ is not my thing," Arukenimon informed him.

"But you love my Coffee Semifreddo, and that's fluffy," he pointed out.

"Fluffy and _strong_."

"Yes exactly," Mummymon grinned, throwing his chest out in a triumphant pose. "Fluffy and strong and sweet! Like you, my dear."

She snorted. "You are a gigantic idiot."

"Thank you, my little birthday pumpkin."

Arukenimon leaned over and bonked her head on the side wall of the stairs.

Mummymon smiled over at her. "Well, if you really want strong, I can do that too," he conceded. Arukenimon looked up at him dubiously, and he pulled a hip flask from inside his coat and offered it to her.

"You _drink_?" she asked, somewhat baffled, unscrewing the top and sniffing at the contents. She wrinkled her nose.

"Not really. It's just nice for when it's cold."

"What is it?"

"Wodka!" Mummymon proclaimed, posing again.

"Cossack," Arukenimon retorted, and took a swig. She coughed a little, feeling it burn down to her stomach, and Mummymon grinned at her some more.

"Good?"

"Not bad," she decided, and took another quick swig before handing it back.

Mummymon polished the flask with his sleeve and hid it away again, still smiling. "Happy birthday, Arukenimon."

"Mm."

He stood up and sighed happily, a little more cake sliding off his shoulder, stretched, and went back inside.

A crow landed next to Arukenimon and regarded her with a curious black eye. She glared back. It walked, unconcerned, over to the cake to nibble at it.

Sighing and feeling more silly than annoyed, now, she got to her feet and started up the stairs. It _was_ pretty cold out here after all. And wanting to go back inside had nothing to do with Mummymon or cake. Of course not.

And while the crows gathered to eat Arukenimon's first birthday cake, Mummymon was hanging out in Oikawa's small kitchen, baking her another one.


End file.
